The forest department heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday morning after emerging successful in capturing one of the two leopards on the prowl on the outskirts of Gandhinagar.

The seven-year-old male leopard Jaas was captured from Jaspur village in Kalol taluka after an intensive overnight operation. Deputy conservator of forest DT Vasavada told DNA that the leopard they have trapped is very healthy. "But whether the leopard is to be sent to a zoo or released in the wild will be decided only after a meeting of top officials," he added.

Giving details of the operation, Vasavada said, "We were informed that Jaas, named after the village he was captured from, had entered a tunnel near the Narmada bridge on Wednesday night. We blocked the tunnel with iron rods from one end and placed a cage at the other end. After waiting the entire night, we finally caught him at around 10 in the morning."

The courage of the team, comprising 14 officials, is commendable. More so because unlike lions, leopards are believed to be more ferocious and have a tendency to attack humans. Moreover, it needs to be noted that even though the team is usually armed, they are constantly tracking elusive leopards and are susceptible to attacks.

Jaas is the second leopard to have entered the urban area from its wild habitat. However, foresters are clueless on how the feline animal found his way to the area since there are no leopard habitations in the vicinity of 70-80 km. "Jaas was first spotted by villagers on Tuesday. But they were not aware of how dangerous the animal can be, and went in a group to see him. This disturbed the animal, who reportedly tried to attack them and later some livestock.

The other leopard is still wandering somewhere around Sant Sarovar, the broken dam on Sabarmati river, and roams in the jungle close by," Vasavada said.

Forest officials and people in the area surrounding Indroda Park and Basan village have also come across the pugmarks of the second leopard. The most recent pugmarks were sighted some three weeks back and officials have placed seven cages to capture it.

Behind bars
The leopard trapped is very healthy, but whether he is to be sent to a zoo or released in the wild will be decided only after a meeting of top forest officials

Unlike lions, leopards are believed to be more ferocious and their tendency to attack humans is relatively higher Jaas is the second leopard to have entered an urban area from its wild habitat. However, foresters are clueless as to how the feline found its way to the area since there are no leopard habitations in the vicinity for 70-80 km

DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication